The present invention relates generally to the packaging industry and specifically to apparatus useful for placing containers within their shipping packaging.
The product packaging industry has been prolific in the invention of new and useful devices for packaging the wide variety of products produced in varying sizes, shapes, and weights. Broadly speaking, one such industry where automated product packaging equipment is used is in the wide variety of businesses that sell fluid products in containers typically no larger than a gallon in size. Examples of such products are beverages, including but not limited to soft drinks and milk, automotive products, such as antifreeze, oil, and windshield cleaner, and cleaners, such as bleach, ammonia, and other well known examples.
The common thread of these businesses is the use of a container, typically plastic but occasionally glass, to hold a fluid. Such containers take many forms, but generally have a body portion which holds the fluid, a neck and a cap. The body portions are generally cylindrical (as with many soft drink containers), square (as with one-gallon milk containers), or rectangular (as with several forms of antifreeze containers and fruit juice containers), though other regular configurations could also be used.
A review of the prior art shows that many and varied types of packaging machines and related equipment have been invented to package the containers. These typically involve quite complicated and quite expensive gearing and camming apparatus used to grasp one or more of the containers, move them to a pre-determined location, and then place them within the appropriate package for transport. Repairs on such machines are often time consuming, resulting in the shut down of production lines. It would be desirable to have packaging apparatus that was simpler in operation and that did not need the complicated machinery of prior art devices, thereby reducing costs and improving efficiency in the packaging operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus that is not subject to the foregoing disadvantages.
It is another object of the present invention to provide an improved packaging machine useful for packing fluid containers into a transport carton.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide an improved packaging machine that utilizes a plurality of grippers each having a plurality of fingers, with each gripper being substantially simultaneously activated to grip the rim of a container.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a gripper having a unitary structure that enables easy and rapid replacement when needed.
The foregoing objects of the present invention are provided by a packaging apparatus for gripping, lifting, and then moving a plurality of individual products from a first location to a second location. The apparatus includes first and second substantially parallel plates and a plurality of individual grippers that are collectively, selectively actuated to grip a single product and to release the product at a preselected time. Each gripper includes an attachment portion and a camming and gripping portion having a configuration substantially akin to a conic section. A plurality of relief slots extend upwardly from the base of each gripper, thereby providing a plurality of gripper fingers. Each gripper extends through an appropriately configured hole in the second plate into a fixed engagement with the first plate. The second plate is movably mounted to the first plate such that it can be moved relatively thereto while maintaining the substantial parallel relationship of the two plates. The holes in the second plate are sized to receive comfortably the attachment portion of each gripper but are also sized to engage the conic section portion thereof when moved apart from the first plate. As the plates continue to move apart, the continuing camming engagement between the second plate and the gripper will cause the gripper fingers to be moved inwardly into a gripping engagement with the products.
The foregoing objects of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art when the following detailed description of the invention is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and claims. Throughout the drawings, like numerals refer to similar or identical parts.